Plum dishes add flavor to fall menus

By
Beatrice H. Comas, Special to The Christian Science Monitor /
September 8, 1982

Plums are the one summer fruit in which the outside offers little clue to its inside. A yellow plum may be red-fleshed, a red plum may be yellow, a blue plum may be green. The best way to tell what's inside is to take a juicy bite.

In choosing plums, select fruit that is full colored for its variety and firm , except for a slightly soft end - a good indication of ripeness.

Of all the plums grown in California, and there are over 140 varieties, the best known is the Santa Rosa, purplish-crimson on the outside with yellow flesh. Other popular varieties include Red Beaut, El Dorado, Laroda, Nubiana, Simka, and Casselman.

If you're eating plums out of hand, leave the skin on, because the contrast between the tartness of the skin and the sweetness of the flesh is part of the pleasure of this fruit and it distinguishes plums from other summer fruit.

Peeling is simple. Hold the plum with a fork in boiling water until the skin cracks, then slip the peel off.

As for pitting plums, some are freestones, such as Larodas, and the pits pop out easily, others are freestone enough to cut along the seam, twist neatly in half and cut the pit away from one side.